A rolling door with a flexible door panel The invention relates to a rolling door with a flexible door panel which can be wound up on a winding shaft pivoted above the door aperture and provided with a drive, having a stop rail fixed to the bottom end of the door panel whose length is less than the clear span between the side sections limiting the door aperture and which is provided at both ends with fastenings for wires running over rollers supported in the ground area and bracing the door panel and having slide-like blocks guided vertically movably in the side sections, which blocks are detachably connected to the ends of the rails by retaining means and are provided with channels or breakthroughs for the wires running from the pulleys on the ground side to the stop rail. In a rolling door of this type known from DE 44 14 524 C2, the slide-like blocks are enclosed between top and bottom retaining pieces connected in each case to one end of the stop rail in such a way that these can only slide off the blocks in a lateral direction in the event of an impact acting on the stop section. With this known rolling door, the blocks are thus retained between fork-like retaining pieces of the stop rail by the bracing wire. To put the door back into its operational state again after a crash, it is necessary to push the fork-like retaining pieces at the two ends of the stop section laterally over the blocks again and to press the edge regions of the door panel back into the guide slots of the side door sections. While with the known rolling door it is relatively simple to put the door back into its operational state after a crash, a special adjustment is required for this purpose in every case which requires manual work.
It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a rolling door of the type first given which, after a crash which led to a detaching of the stop rail from the blocks, can more easily and where possible even automatically be returned to its operational state again.
This object is solved in accordance with the invention by the retaining means consisting of locking devices which release the stop rail in the event of forces acting thereon from the side and which, when the blocks are pressed on from above, again interlock with them.
With the rolling door in accordance with the invention, in the event of a crash the triggering of the stop rail, that is its release from the blocks, is performed in the same way as with the known rolling door. However, unlike the known rolling door, it is not necessary after a triggering of the stop rail to push its fork-like retaining pieces laterally back over the retaining parts of the blocks, which would require manual adjustment work, but rather the bracing wires pull the stop section back onto the slidelike blocks from the top so that the stop section then again interlocks with the blocks when these are travelled towards the ground by a closing movement of the door. If the operational status of the door should not be automatically reinstated by the bracing wires pulling the stop section back onto the blocks after a crash until these interlock with the block, the interlock can be effected by exerting pressure onto the stop section from above. It may also be additionally necessary after the snapping in of the interlock connection to align the stop section manually to the blocks and to press the side edges of the door panel into the side slots of the side door sections.
Appropriately, ratchet levers are pivoted on the blocks around axes running horizontally and diagonally to the plane of the door panel which ratchet levers are biased by springs towards the door panel and which are supported on these on interlock projections of the stop section below the fastenings of the wires.
To simplify the renewed interlocking of the stop section with the blocks after a deratcheting of the stop section, the interlock projections can be provided with chamfers on their bottom sides. The ratchets then slip over these chamfers until they snap into their interlocked position behind the interlock projections.
In another aspect of the invention, a sensor, for example an inductive proximity switch, is provided which generates signals when the stop section is pushed off at least one of the blocks and when the interlock connection is reinstated between the blocks and the stop section.
In accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that in guides of the blocks arms or slide elements are slidably guided which have a light barrier on their lower ends which, when it responds, causes a brake to engage which stops the closing movement of the door panel or which switches over the drive of the door panel to the winding up direction. The safety device consisting of the slidable arms with a light barrier which brings the stop section to a stop with great security within a stopping length which excludes any injury to persons and/or damage to objects is known per se from EP 0 284 066 B2. In this known apparatus, the arms having the light barrier are slidably guided in guides of the stop section or the lateral sword-like protrusions, which guides are parallel to the side sections. In accordance with the present invention, the slide elements or arms with the light barrier, which are generally designed in the same way as those described in EP 0 284 066 B2, are slidably guided in guides of the blocks so that current can be supplied to the light barriers simply, for example by means of trailing cables. The invention further provides the additional advantage of the wires providing the bracing of the stop section not being directly connected to the slide-like blocks guided in the vertical slots of the side stop sections of the door, but rather the blocks being provided with obliquely running breakthroughs or channels through which the wires are guided to their fastenings or fastening pieces on the stop sections. In this way, in the event of a crash pushing the stop section off the blocks, it is prevented that the slide-like blocks are pulled against the ground with great force by the wires and that the light barriers may be damaged thereby. For as the blocks are provided with the obliquely running guides for the bracing wires, after a crash detaching the stop section from the blocks, the blocks can only slide downwards under the effect of gravity until they are stoppingly supported on the bracing wires running obliquely from the pulleys on the ground side to the fastening points on the stop section. If now to interlock the stop section with the blocks again, the door is travelled downwards with the side blocks until the blocks are supported on the floor and the interlock is again restored, the blocks settle relatively gently on the ground so that no damage to the safety device consisting of the arms provided with the light barriers needs to be feared.